LL A.K.: Hello! We have guests with us today!
Falcon: Diablo, Phoenix, and Raptor!
Diablo: (trying to tie shoe)
Phoenix: (Staring at Falcon's neck) Hi…
Raptor: (can't talk)
LL A.K.: Ah-heh… yeah. So, Phoenix, where've you been?
Phoenix: Does it matter, I'm starving. (goes to bite Falcon)
Falcon: Oh look, a penny! (ducks to pick up penny)
SLAM.
Phoenix: (unconscious)
LL A.K.: Yeah… Well, anyways, great news, people, we now have a picture of Diablo we can email to you, if you want!
Falcon: We're gonna try to get it on our theotaku .com thing. It's under Falcon-sama, if you want to check out our stuff. We've got a bunch of quiz results on it, too.
Ominous Disclaimer Voice That Comes From Nowhere: Long Live Asato Kido and Falcon-sama don't own YuYu Hakusho or Harry Potter, and request that you stupid lawyers go away and deal with that kid that stalks all their friends.
SCENE CHANGE "Japanese or spell" //Hiei's telepathy in Japanese //Hiei's telepathy in English
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
Asato fought to keep his eyes open. Professor Binns was talking about the gremlin rebellion in the same painful drone that he must have spoken in for at least a century. His narrow eyes were slowly forcing themselves shut, eyelids attempting to slam down, forbidding his pale brown eyes from seeing anything. He was almost totally asleep when—
WHAM!
"Ow!" He jumped in his seat, hand on his forehead. Yusuke whistled innocently from three seats down, holding a few rocks, obviously loaned from Hagiri.
"Mr. Urameshi, please answer my question." Professor Binns said.
"Uh… grape?"
"Why, that's correct, the gremlins despised grape juice, and were defeated when wizards turned the river into grape juice."
Kurama and Hermione looked stunned. How'd Yusuke get something right?
The blond took advantage of this bizarre answer, and went to sleep. Yana blinked, looking at them all, and with a shrug, fell asleep sitting up.
Kurama shook his head at the sight. He turned to look at his right; Hagiri was in the process of nodding off, head jerking up in an attempt to stay awake, then falling back to his chest, Kuwabara was snoring loudly with his head on his desk. And Yusuke, well Yusuke was drawing pictures of himself (a stick figure with slicked hair) using the spirit gun on Malfoy, who fell to the ground, according to the manga-style pictures.
"Yusuke…" Kurama said in a sort of parental way. The delinquent's brown eyes darted to look at Kurama, and then he scribbled on the paper and held it so that Kurama could see it even more clearly. Now, instead of slicked back hair, the stick figure had long hair with stray strands sticking out, and instead of the spirit gun, it now had a very childish-looking flower.
"Better?"
"Indeed." He looked at the picture intently. "But, you seemed to make his ego too small.
Yusuke paused. "Oh yeah, I did." He scribbled the word's 'Malfoy's Ego' on the paper, and pointed at a freshly drawn giant bunny. "Better?"
"Much."
-
"So, did I miss anything?" Yana said, stretching and yawning.
"Not that I know of." Kurama said. "How about you, Hagiri?"
The Sniper blinked. "Please, I was sleeping and you know it."
Kuwabara cracked his neck. "Yeah, I knew you were sleeping, I could hear you snoring from the other side of Kurama, Urameshi, and Kido."
"That was you snoring."
"Not funny, Urameshi." Kuwabara grumbled.
"I never said it was." He shrugged, and then looked at his watch. "Demonology in ten. Can't I go skip?"
"Hn. No, we prefer you to be stuck in these walls as torture."
Everyone but Kurama jumped at the sudden arrival of Hiei, who was now walking beside them, eyes closed.
"I am never going to get used to that." Yana twitched. "Where did you just come from, Hiei?"
"Double Herbology. Touya and Kaitou wanted me to say something along the line of 'hi' to you idiots."
Hagiri took a quick glance through the corner of his eye. "Where's Mitarai?"
Hiei half-shrugged, a movement that was nearly unnoticeable.
"That helps." He took another glance to his left. "Hey."
They all stopped. "What's up?" Asato asked, and followed his gaze. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in the courtyard, sitting on a stone bench and talking animatedly. "Yeah, so? It looks like a bad impersonation of Trelawney."
"I could do a good"—
"NO, YANA!"
"Okay…"
Hagiri shook his head. "When do we ask them? I mean, I hate asking for favors as much as the next egomaniac, but still…"
Yusuke looked at Hagiri. He really seemed worried. Maybe it was because of the whole idea that Koenma had brought Sensui back, along with that fat freak of nature. Most likely it was because Itsuki was their only way to make the tunnel and Hagiri had screwed priorities and thought that by saving a demon, they could kill off humanity.
"We'll talk to them later. I doubt it would be a good idea to ask them right now." Yusuke said.
"How noble of you, Yusuke. Care to repeat it so I can have a more defined reason to kill you?"
"Nah, I like the suspense, Hiei. Now can I please skip class, dad?" Yusuke pleaded to Kurama.
"Yusuke, it's Demonology. Quite a useful class, especially to see demons through a human's point of view."
"Yeah, but, I spent like three years looking at 'em in a 'humans point of view.'" He whined. "I'd like to see my eyelids in a demon's point of view sometime."
"Then I'm sure Hiei would be glad to remove them so that he could have a look."
"Okay, that was a little gross…" Yana said as they started climbing the stairs to get to the Demonology class on the fourth floor. "I mean, why would Hiei even want to look at"—
"Actually, I'm quite interested."
"Ew."
-
Professor Phoenix walked into the classroom briskly, looking a little more sallow than usual. He set his bag onto his desk with a thump, causing a few of the less attentive students to jump.
"I hope you all did your essay." He said, sounding a bit disgruntled. They nodded (well, Hiei just glared and so did Hagiri). "Good. Accio." He said in an almost bored tone, and all the essays were then neatly stacked on his desk. "Now then, we're going to go over a few things that might be difficult to swallow. Has anyone ever seen a demon?"
Yana made a slight twitch like he wanted to raise his hand, but Kurama kicked him under the desks.
"No one? I find that possible, but surely there's someone who has seen one." Still nothing. "Give me a break. Not even a kappa?"
Silence.
He groaned, then muttered, "Overprotected brats." quietly. "A vampire?"
A few hands were raised, including Ron's.
"Okay, then. Some common ground, finally." He leaned against his desk. "Vampires are not quite considered demons. They are thought of as half-breeds, because they aren't quite human, but they aren't full-blown demons, either. Pure demons, however, can be either incredibly strong, or pathetic. But even the weakest can be able to destroy a human easily. This…" He flicked his wand, causing the projector in the corner to turn on and cast a picture of a shadowy figure with long, wild blond hair and tanned skin sitting on a rock. "…Is one of the most powerful demons on record, supposedly the strongest.
"He is known as Raizen, and ruled one of the three kingdoms that made up the Demon World. We've speculated about what type of demon he is, but what can't determine it. What is known about him is that he feeds on human flesh. But as you can see by this picture," He pointed his wand at the frozen pictures' stomach. "He obviously hadn't eaten anything in a while; you can see his ribs quite well."
"But, Professor Phoenix," Hermione spoke. "He looks so human."
"Well, he's not." He flicked his wand, and the picture changed. "Some of the tell-tale signs of a humanoid demon: fangs, ears, nails-slash-claws, and the occasional markings."
Yusuke let out a quiet 'gulp'. Kuwabara's voice was a strained whisper. "Isn't that your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather?"
"You coulda just said ancestor." Yusuke grumbled.
"Now then," Phoenix flicked his wand again, changing it to a picture of a silver fox.
"Oh, it's so pretty!" Lavender said.
"This is one of the more notorious lower-class demons, roughly a D-class. Youko Kurama. He was well known for robbing giant heavily-armed castles and plundering other thieves' hideouts for their treasure. There are some records of him working alongside a bat demon, whose name remains unknown. This picture is of his animal form, which basically looks like a fox with red eyes. But his true form…"
The picture changed again, now he showed a tall young man with long silver hair that went down to his waist, fair skin, wearing white. But the three most notable factors were his tail, golden eyes, and fox ears perched on top of his head.
"He's cute." Lavender sighed.
"You mean hot!" Parvati and Lavender then went into a fit of silent giggles.
"Well, Kurama, how do you like that attention?" Yusuke whispered.
"I'm only documented as a D-class…" He said in a sort of daze.
"Continuing on our slide show," Phoenix said, changing the picture again, this time to a mostly shadowed figure that was turned slightly sideways, almost profile-like. You could plainly see that its skin was green and that it had eyes all over its chest, stomach, and arms. Its eyes were mismatched on its face, the two normal eyes were red, and the third that was on its forehead was purple. But what caught several people's eyes was the hair. It was black and spiked upwards, and had a white starburst in the middle.
Hermione looked out the corner of her eye to look at Hiei. His eyes were red…but that couldn't be possible, demons didn't exist anymore. And besides, the fox one was called Youko Kurama, and Minamino's nickname was Kurama. They were just big demonology fans.
She hoped.
"This demon has been given no name, but some have called him the flying shadow. He assassinated countless demons and was also a thief throughout his known existence. He moved so fast that no one could follow him, by sight or speed, giving him the demon category of apparition. Stories say that he was born to a species of all female demons, called Koorime. They had legends about a fabled son that would one day curse them for all eternity and bring the flames of hell to them. They say that against the mother's pleas, he was thrown off a cliff and was found and raised by demon criminals, until he surpassed them all in strength. He supposedly killed them all, and then worked solo. No other record has been kept."
He turned the projector off. "So, any questions, comments?"
Parvati raised her hand. "Is that Youko guy still alive?"
Phoenix shook his head. Children and hormones, what a nightmare. "As I've said before, the Ministry tells me to tell you that demons are no longer in existence. He very well may be, in my opinion."
"Any clue where he might be?"
His brow twitched. "I have no idea. But please, feel free to scour the continents for him, I'll write up an excuse. I'd probably go like this: 'please excuse Parvati Patil for her absences to class, she was looking for a demon that she found attractive.'" He took a deep breath for a moment, trying to tolerate them all. "Any reasonable questions?"
Yana raised his hand.
"No, Yanagisawa, the house-elves aren't from Pluto."
He put his hand down.
"Anything else?"
Yana raised his hand again.
"They're not from that planet, either."
He put his hand back down.
Phoenix shook his head. "Okay, any questions that involve the subject of today's lesson?"
This time Harry raised his hand.
"Yes, Potter?"
"Did any of them have… powers?" he sounded unsure of his own question.
Phoenix inclined his head, as if approving the question. "Yes, they did. Youko not only could turn into a fox, but could also manipulate plants to his will, from turning a blade of grass into a sword to turning a rose into a lethal whip. The green demon I showed you not only possessed incredible speed, but could create and control fire. Some rumors say that he could even control people with his mind, look through their eyes, and even kill them by merely thinking it." He smirked, as if jealous of the demons. "Yeah, and I'm not sure about what Raizen did; no one is. Did that answer your question, Potter?"
"Yes sir, thank you." He said.
BBBRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!
"Okay, then, class, I want you to choose any specific demon or breed, and I want a one and a half foot essay on them." He said as they put their things up from taking notes.
Hagiri walked up to Yusuke, and elbowed him slightly. "Well?"
The half-breed sighed, "They seem to go outside a lot, we'll go after them then." He gave Hagiri a playful punch in the shoulder. "Don't worry, Sniper, I got it."
"What? Your brain?" Asato said, catching up to them.
"Ha-ha. Very funny, I almost forgot to fake a laugh."
"Kido, the detective's been missing that for years." Hiei said bluntly, suddenly at their side. He raised a brow very slightly. "Kurama's missing."
"Can you ever say 'where's Kurama', huh, Shorty?" Kuwabara asked, drawing on his hand with a quill.
"That would mean that I'm concerned. I'm merely observing the fact that he's not here and the females aren't following us."
"You act like you're talking about lions, Hiei." Yusuke then faked an Australian accent, while trying to mock Hiei at the same time. "We're 'ere in 'Ogwarts, an' ever since one of my colleagues left the group, th' females seem to 'ave lost interest in us."
"No more Animal Planet for you, mister." Yana said sternly.
"Animal Planet? What's that?" They turned around; it was Ron who spoke, with Hermione and Harry next to him.
"It's a channel on television, Ron." Hermione replied.
"What's a television?"
Hagiri blinked. "I hope I didn't just hear that."
Mitarai nodded in agreement, while Kuwabara, Asato and Yusuke all had looks that said 'what the hell's this kid on?' Hiei and Rinku were both thinking about the first time they encountered a television, in both cases the TV was smashed into little pieces then combusted.
Yana just stood there looking stupid.
"Well, we have to go put some books up then head to the library, are you guys coming?" Harry asked.
They all looked at each other for a split second, each shrugging in an 'I don't care' manner. "Sure, this thing's too damn heavy to carry around this place." Yusuke readjusted the strap on his bag.
Most of them headed towards the Gryffindor Tower, but they had parted with Hiei, Rinku, and Mitarai when they got to a corridor that headed towards the dungeons. They had been listening to Harry, Ron, and Hermione's argument about whether they should go see Sirius instead of going to the library, but in the end, Hermione apparently won, since Ron was grumbling about how he was tired of writing.
"Hey, Kuwabara, can you feel Kurama anywhere?" Yusuke asked in Japanese. "I mean, normally I can tell, but this magic stuff has me screwed up."
Kuwabara looked slightly up thoughtfully. "Nah, he's coverin' his tracks a lot since we're here. Hiei and the others too. They must be scared that these guys can feel their energy."
"Well that stinks." Yana muttered. "Ya know, it'd really be bad if he was in trouble or something, and we didn't know it, and maybe some dude came back from the dead and wants revenge on him, and then I'd have to disguise as him and date someone. Maybe Botan, she's kinda cute…"
Asato blinked, "Yeah, well he's probably at the library or something, I don't see how you guys could worry."
"Maybe some of the Hufflepuff girls kidnapped him…"
"Shut up, Yana."
-
Harry was the first to approach the Fat Lady.
"Chocolate chip." He said dismissively, tuning out the rapid-fire Japanese that was being rambled behind him. He heard a punch land on someone and turned slightly, noticing that Yusuke now had a bruise on his face and was being held back by Kuwabara and Yana, while Kido smirked and laughed as Yusuke was apparently cursing in Japanese.
"They're so violent." Hermione said, brushing past him. "Honestly, I heard that Japan was an advanced, well-organized, orderly place, and that's mostly Muggles. These boys are so malevolent."
The three watched as Yusuke got loose and chased Asato up the stairs, yelling.
"They should teach languages here, I think it would be interesting to learn Japanese." Hermione put her bag in a chair.
"Yeah, I don't want to have to take a class." Ron grumbled, looking at his Potions: Year Six book. "I think it's weird they'll just suddenly decide to talk in Japanese, and they even whisper in it. Why would they need to whisper? No one here speaks Japanese," He turned when he saw Hermione dash up the stairs of the girl dormitories. "Where's she going?"
"I'm getting my charms book, Ronald." She said before she disappeared behind a door.
Just then, the transfers came down the opposite stairs, their clothes were messed up from an obvious struggle. Yana looked at Harry and Ron's troubled faces. "We cleaned the mess up in there. Just, ah… stay away from Blackjack, he's kinda grumpy."
Yusuke, who was now wearing a short-sleeve shirt, looked at them. "Hey, are you guys comin'? And where's…"
"Hermione's up there, we're waiting for her." Harry said, "You guys go ahead, we'll catch up."
They nodded and left.
"I got it!" Hermione said as she came running down the stairs. "Here guys, look." She opened the book, showing a chapter with the heading 'Language Charms: Speak and Hear'. "See, language charms! All we do is use a spell on some object that can be worn, and we can understand what they say! Harry, we could use your glasses, I could use a necklace, and Ron… your watch!"
Harry shook his head. She was so suspicious, and now she was making Ron jittery. Why couldn't they just accept that they're just transfers who got their magic late?
"Okay, Harry, give me your glasses."
He reluctantly obeyed. "Just don't blow them up."
"Harry, don't worry. Now Ron, your watch, thank you. Now…" She took off the necklace she was wearing and set it next to the glasses and watch. "Translatio Foreign Japan." She pointed her wand at the items, which glowed pink for a second, then went back to normal.
Harry carefully picked up his glasses and put them back on.
"Ron, say something you've heard the transfers say before." Hermione instructed.
"Like what, they say it all too fast."
"What about Hiei? He barely says two words."
Ron put his hand to his chin. "Oh, wait, I know! Baka."
Harry blinked. "Idiot? That's what it means?"
"Really?" Hermione put the necklace on quickly and tossed Ron his watch. "So they work?"
"Seems like it."
"Well, then, let's go to the library." She grabbed a quill and some parchment out of her bag, and marched out of the common room.
-
THE LIBRARY…
"Yusuke, hand me that book, please."
"No. Tell us where you went." Yusuke glared at Kurama's green eyes.
"Yusuke, just give him the damn book." Hagiri said bluntly, flipping through a book on telekinetic demons.
"…Fine." He threw the book, making hit Kurama in the chest with a 'thump'. He snorted in disgust before returning to his book titled, 'Legendary Demons: The Rulers of All'. He scowled as he saw a sketch of Raizen and what the caption said was a human that he was going to eat. But in reality, it looked more like he was about to kiss her. Yeah, real starving.
"Hey guys." Harry said as him, Hermione, and Ron walked up to the tables they had pushed together. He turned to take a quick glimpse of a table full of girls who kept looking their way. "Fans?"
Kurama smiled faintly. "'Obsessed' seems more appropriate. Have a seat." He nodded his head towards three seats near the end of the table that were closest to Kuwabara, Yusuke, Kaitou, Jin, and Touya.
Harry and Ron walked over to Neville, Dean, and Seamus, who were looking up possible Patronuses they could have; but Hermione walked over to where the Demonology books were located. Her eyes widened at the sight. They were all gone! But how? This school was supposed to have an innumerable amount of books!
She felt something touch her shoulder and she jumped with as quiet yelp.
"Little secret," She turned her head slightly, suddenly staring into blue eyes. Mitarai, obviously. "We've got most of the books on the table."
She looked behind her. So they did. Blushing, she walked back to the table and went to have a seat when—
SLAM.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!" Students laughed, pointing at her and the person who pulled her chair.
Pansy. Along with Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
She stood up with a scowl on her face. The Slytherin boys snickered at her until Pansy spoke. "Pity, I thought with all that hair it would weigh you down to the floor. So much for that theory."
Malfoy smirked at the table before him. "What's this? English 101? I swear, it's bad enough all the mudbloods that come in locally, but now they're shipping them in. This place is already overrun by you scum, it's just getting worse. If only something had fallen on you, Granger; the school would be better then."
Hermione clenched her fists in anger, she just wanted nothing more than to slap him again, twice as hard as she did in third year. And she wouldn't mind a shot at Pansy, either.
CRACK. CRACK.
Malfoy raised a brow at the sound. Knuckles being cracked, but those stupid mudblood transfers wouldn't try anything against him if they had a shred of intelligence or self-preservation.
"So, Malfoy, you always act like a jackass or is today special?" Malfoy looked at the boy with slicked-back black hair. His brown eyes seemed to glare through him, like he was worthless. "It's damn tragic when your girlfriend starts pickin' at the decent people."
Malfoy barked a laugh. "Granger? Decent? Good one, Urameshi, that'll be the day. I heard you're pretty tough, why do you even bother wasting time with these idiots?"
"I don't know how your spoiled brat mentality can handle this, Malfoy, but these are my friends. Ever heard of friends? They usually say more than 'grr' and 'ugh', like Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum here." He saw Crabbe and Goyle go to move towards him, but Malfoy stopped them. "Look, leave them the hell alone and go dye your hair an actual color."
"Got room to talk, Urameshi, with some of these mongrels." He sneered, indicating Rinku and Jin's messy hair, Hiei's gravity-defying hair, Yana's purple and Touya's blue hair, and Kurama's hopelessly perfect red hair. "Scares me to think what your hair really looks like."
Yusuke snorted and held up a single finger. Malfoy let out a huff, "Pitiful. And you all have this ridiculous idea that you're going to have a decent essay. I'm already finished."
"As if we're supposed to care about your pathetic kiss-up attempts." Hiei muttered in Japanese, catching Hermione off guard with the fact she understood.
"What's that, Jaganshi?" Malfoy glared.
"I said you should be careful about leaving you things in the common room, they might catch fire." He said blankly.
Malfoy thought about it for a few seconds, then apparently the meaning snapped. "This isn't over, Gryffindor scum."
"Do us a favor and get some material that doesn't sound like you ripped it off of Batman." Yana called as the four left.
Touya and Jin looked at Kaitou, who shrugged. "We don't count."
"Explains a lot." Touya muttered and Jin nodded.
Harry and Ron came back over to the table, noticing that Yusuke looked exceptionally ticked. "What's up with him?" Ron asked.
"Malfoy came by," Hermione explained, "Pansy pulled the chair out from under me and Yusuke stood up to him. Then Hiei mentioned fires in the Slytherin common room and he left."
"Fires in the Slytherin common room?"
Kurama smiled. "Pyromania, Ron. Hiei happens to have a severe case of it and enjoys setting things on fire."
"But Hiei can't start a fire from in here." Harry said.
"Or can he? Duh-duh-dun…" Yana laughed.
Harry pretended he had no clue what Yana said, so did Ron and Hermione. But they couldn't take anything seriously as long as it came from Yana's mouth.
"So what're you three going to write your essays about?" Kaitou asked, curious.
"I dunno," Ron said, "I was thinking maybe the Koorime, they seem interesting."
Hiei clenched his teeth, seething.
Harry flipped through a book emptily. "How about an elemental demon? They seem simple enough."
"Too simple, Harry, everyone's going to write about them." Hermione said, scanning the pages of a book. "Besides, they don't have that much detail, take ice for example, they freeze the air around them to subzero temperatures, and dislike heat. The end."
Jin looked at Touya nervously, but the shinobi closed his eyes, as if meditating and tuning them out.
"What about fire?"
"Intense heat around them, can withstand the most severe draughts and remain comfortable, and can possibly set things on fire at will." She caught a glimpse of what Yusuke was looking at. "Your essay's on Raizen?"
He jumped, startled. "Yeah, what's your point?" He grumbled. She gently moved the book from his grasp to inspect it.
"He was able to possess people; he could use a sort of mind control." She said, reading. "He fed on humans, and he may have starved to death since he one day suddenly refused to eat." She looked at the picture. "I wonder why he had those markings…" She pushed the book back to Yusuke. "Sorry, I was just…" She stared at Yusuke's bare arms.
"What?" Yusuke asked. "What's up?"
She shook her head slightly. "Nothing, those marks You-Know-Who gave you just look like the ones he had."
Yusuke looked at the picture again. "Hey, it kinda does. Weird."
Yana elbowed Yusuke, and in Kuwabara's voice, said, "Hey, Urameshi, isn't that your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great"—
"Quit while you're still breathing." He warned.
"Yes sir, your freakishness! I live to serve you! Do you need anything else, your hair re-gelled, wand buffed, take Puu to the vet?"
"Shut up." Yusuke growled, then, in a more puzzled tone. "You know what; I haven't seen Puu in a real long time. Hope he's okay…"
Hiei made a quick glance at Yusuke before returning to his essay that made him seem more superior than the books intended. "He's a giant bird, Detective; I doubt he'd be in any danger, sadly."
"Yeah, well according to you, Hiei, everything's giant." Kuwabara pointed out. "Or it could be the fact your so sh"—
"Can I kill your shoulder monkey, Yusuke?"
"Go ahead."
Hiei made a motion like he was reaching for a sword, causing Kuwabara to jump his seat a little further from the table. Hermione looked at them disdainfully. They were just goofing off; how was she supposed to learn anything about them from that?
"Jeez, Urameshi, sellin' me out to the shrimp! I shoulda known that your little ata-whatever made you more different!" Kuwabara whined.
"Atavism." Kurama corrected. "Hermione, could you please hand me that book beside you?"
She handed him the book, Demon Spirits and Their Stories. He had gone to take it from her when he suddenly dropped it just as Harry put his hand to his forehead.
"Ow!" Harry said, and noticed that some of the transfers suddenly seemed more attentive, like they were listening for something. The five who were first to arrive (Yana, Asato, Kaitou, Hagiri, and Mitarai for those who lost track) looked at the others, alarmed.
"What is it?" Asato asked, eyes darting from Kuwabara to Kurama to Hiei, since as far as he knew, they were most likely to sense something. "A demon?"
Kuwabara was shivering, "Not sure, it's weird though, familiar." He turned to Yusuke. "Doesn't feel like… you know?"
Yusuke gritted his teeth. "I felt that before…" He looked at Hiei. "Anything?"
Hiei shut his eyes for a moment. "It's gone. Whatever it was must have been swallowed by a stray portal."
"Who could it have been?" Mitarai asked, holding the knife in his pocket.
"Toguro, I suppose." Kurama sighed, still tense. "That's what it feels like. I hope he's still gone. If he returns there would be some problems."
Ron looked at them. "You guys alright?" He asked.
Kuwabara forced a goofy grin on his face. "Yep! You fell for it! See you guys, I told you if we acted like something was going on they'd freak out!"
"THAT'S IT! OUT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR NOISE!"
Yana gulped. "I think we're getting kicked out of the library."
"Good guess." Kurama said, grabbing his books.
-
Harry, Ron, and Hermione had walked out of the school, and were now headed towards Hagrid's hut.
"Who do you suppose Toguro is?" Hermione said curiously, flipping through her Ancient Runes book.
"Who knows, probably just someone they knew in Japan." Ron said dismissively. "Besides, what kind of name is 'Toguro'?"
Harry looked to his left, where all of the Cerberus puppies were chained up and sleeping. They seemed peaceful, for once.
"Harry," Hermione said, catching his attention. "Your scar hurt in there, didn't it?"
He hesitated to tell her. He was sick of the pity for his scar. "Yeah, but I doubt it was anything bad. Voldemort must have forgotten how to make a peanut butter sandwich or something."
Ron blinked. "You're not one to make fun of You-Know-Who, Harry. Are you feeling alright?"
"Just tired, I guess." He said as he knocked on Hagrid's door. It opened and revealed Hagrid, who looked tired.
"'Ey there, Harry, Ron, Hermione. C'mon in." They obeyed, and went to sit down, but couldn't, there was a very big lizard-like creature lying on the couch. It's skin was a sort of dull grey with the slightest blue tint. "Sorry 'bout that, the professor's not doin' too well."
"The professor?" Hermione looked at the creature. "You mean that's a teacher?"
They could have sworn they heard Hagrid mutter, 'I shouldn't 'ave told you that'. He sighed as he sat down in his chair and put a giant hand on Fang's head. "Yeah, that's one o' th' professors."
"But who? They were all at school!" Ron said, then noticed Harry was staring at the creature. "What is it?"
"It's Professor Diablo, see the marks under his eyes?" Sure enough, there was a sideways 'v' under each of it's eyes. "I didn't know he was an Animagus. What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know if I should be tellin' you this, but Firenze brought 'em to me."
"Firenze? Why?" Hermione asked.
Hagrid took a deep breath, then made a rather loud 'gulp', as if fighting back the fact he wanted to cry. "There were Death Eaters, in the forest. He was doing some research for a class, when he ran into them. I suppose he turned into that Komodo dragon when he saw them. They got him with the Killing Curse."
Harry's heart sank. "He's dead?" He stared at Diablo. "But, he was fine! We had his class just before History of Magic! We were supposed to have our first Patronus Club meeting soon!"
"I know, Harry, but there were Death Eaters." Hagrid sighed. "He fought back, Firenze saw 'em. Hurt one pretty bad, but he got away."
"That's horrible…" Hermione said, fighting tears.
Ron bit his lip in silence.
Professor Diablo was dead, thanks to Death Eaters, Harry thought. It wasn't fair. He was barely out of school, teaching, and then he dies! He looked at the giant lizard sadly, his eyes were closed peacefully, at least they looked peaceful compared to the rest of his body, a whip-like tail that was limp on the floor, long fangs and claws, and even the grey-blue of his skin looked violent.
"So," Hagrid said as he door opened and Sirius walked in. "What made you three want to come over here?"
It was Hermione who answered. "Harry's scar was hurting for a second in the library, but he thought it was nothing."
"It must have been the Death Eaters that made it hurt." Sirius said grimly. He walked up to Diablo and put his ear to his chest. "It's horrible. I keep hoping he's just knocked out, but, I know that's not true. I didn't survive it. No one did but you, Harry, why should anyone else be spared? Fate's an awful thing; destroys families, ruins friendships, and spawns hate."
-
"Hey, Harry!" Asato said, disgruntled, but attempting to sound friendly. "Yo, Potter!" Harry continued walking towards the Great Hall, apparently unable to hear him. "Dammit. 'Kido, please go get Harry, we need to ask him about the barrier'; sure, Kurama, go pass your little tasks to the human. The best looking one, at that." He continued grumbling as he chased after Harry.
"Mr. Kido, I suggest you slow down if you don't want detention." A fake-sweet voice said. He slowed to a stop and sighed, clenching his fists. "I would hate to think what would happen if you tripped and fell, especially traveling through these staircases."
He turned to face Norom. "Thanks for stopping me, I may have actually fallen and been stuck in that bottomless abyss down there." He coughed, "Onna."
"Are you getting sick, Mr. Kido?" She said curiously. "Perhaps you should go to the hospital wing."
"Good idea, I'll get on that right away." He took off, yelling in Japanese. "Dammit, Harry, slow down before I freeze up this whole school!"
-
Harry stopped where he was standing. He had forgotten about the translation charm. But it wasn't like he had no reason to, he just found out that a professor was dead, the Defense teacher, at that. He had liked Diablo, they had been working on Patronus charms, and even the transfers were getting better; there had been so many students interested, they had made a Patronus Club, so they could practice more. Their first meeting was even supposed to be tonight.
"Harry!" He turned around; it was Kido, the blond one with a very…colorful vocabulary. "'bout damn time you stopped, I've been following you for the past eight corridor-things!"
"Why, what's wrong?" He asked, alarmed.
"Look, the teachers can't make that barrier." He said quietly as some Ravenclaw girls walked by, Cho included. "One of our friends will die if they put it up. He's sick, and if they put it up, he'll die."
Harry looked at him. "That's not funny, Kido." He started walking again; Asato walked a half-step faster than him.
"I'm serious! I mean, I don't care for the guy that much, but the others are worried about him."
"Kido, quit joking, putting a barrier up won't hurt anyone." He said, thinking about Diablo. "It'll help, now leave me alone!"
Asato grabbed Harry by the front of his shirt, lifting him slightly. "Look, do you need convincing!" He snarled.
Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at Asato's throat. "I'm not in the mood. Go away and leave me alone."
"Yeah, well, I'm not in the mood, either."
All Harry heard was the sound of knuckles cracking before everything went blank.
-
"You didn't have to hit him, Kido."
"Yeah, but I wanted to."
"I would've done it."
"No one cares about you, Hagiri."
"You'll be saying that when your pretty orange sword is halfway down your throat."
"Yeah, right. One touch and you're vaporized."
"Are you saying you're stronger than me?"
"Technically he is, Hagiri. His energy is much stronger than yours."
"Nyah! See, even Kurama's on my side."
"But an oil tanker beats anyone."
"'cept me."
"No one asked you to be part of this conversation, Urameshi."
"This is a conversation? Sounds like you're arguing over who gets to play with the Tinker Toys."
"Shut up."
Harry opened his eyes slowly, noticing that he was in the boy's dormitory, lying on his bed; with the Gryffindor transfers looming over him. He looked at Asato, who had a satisfied smirk on his face. Kuwabara was staring at him through narrow eyes, Yusuke was holding a bottle of liquid that said 'Germ-X Hand Sanitizer' and was scrubbing it on his arms, desperate to get the marks off; Hagiri was leaning on the wall, Yana was looking at a brick in the wall like it was extremely interesting; while Kurama simply stood there with his hands in his pockets.
Harry sat up. "What's going on?"
"Kido attempted to tell you of our dilemma, you ignored him." Kurama said. "I apologize for his methods."
"Tell that to my face." He said; he could feel that his cheek was bruised.
Hagiri looked at Harry intently, like if he said something that Hagiri didn't like, he'd be in big trouble. "Well? We need you to talk to Dumbledore and tell him to call this thing off."
"No."
"Why not!"
A voice came from somewhere out of Harry's line of vision. Please. I told you these fools would refuse.
"Be nice." Kurama said gently, not taking his eyes off Harry.
What are you going to do if I don't?
"I'll let slip a little secret of yours to a certain someone…"
"Hiei's got a secret?" Kuwabara blurted. "What is it? C'mon Kurama, tell me!"
"Well…"
Tell him and I tell that human you call mother.
"Fair enough."
"Am I hearing things?" Harry said, looking around the room. "That sounded like Hiei."
"It was." Yusuke said, looking at his now-red and peeling skin, "He's got some weird psychopathic thing going on."
"Telepathic." Kurama corrected.
"Same thing." He shrugged, then turned to Harry. "Look kid, Itsuki, this guy back in Japan, he's sick. He's got a…um…"
"Connection."
"Shut up, Kurama, I was about to say that! Well, anyways, he's connected to the portals and tunnels that are around here, and if they put up a barrier, he's going to die."
"Such a way with words, Detective." They all looked at the open window. Hiei was standing on the windowsill, looking as expressionless as ever.
"How did you get right there?" Harry said nervously. They were near the top of a tower! Near the top! The Slytherin were in a dungeon, which was the polar opposite of a tower!
"I ran. And jumped. How many other options are there?" He said blankly, just before stepping down and the window shut behind him.
"But- but I heard you! In my head!" Harry was scared now.
"Well, then, it seems you have more of a connection to Voldemort then you're credited for."
Even Kurama looked a little perplexed. "What do you mean, Hiei?"
"There's an ancient curse that I learned of recently, called the Death of Five Twilights. It occurs every fifty years when it is performed correctly, if not, the chosen become deformed hybrids. Like Voldemort."
"How do you know what Voldemort looks like?"
Hiei stared at Harry with cold red eyes. "Your dreams are impossible to avoid observing. They're the loudest and most annoying of the entire school, recurring nightmares of people being killed by Voldemort, and there are the more pitiful ones; where you are reunited with your parents by the same power that brought your godfather back.
"It disgusts me. Humans and their family ties. I don't have a family, never did. You have a bastard, a pig, and a wench for family, yet you cry for your actual parents and wish to avenge them. My mother was killed. But I accepted it because I never knew her and had no memories of her, therefore, I don't care. To long for something that doesn't exist is pure idiocy."
"Back to Voldemort, please, Hiei." Kurama said nicely.
Hiei's red eyes looked at Kurama for a moment, not threateningly, just in a more respectful way. "He has demon blood in him. The Death of Five Twilights causes it. It forces an atavism in a human, the body could reject it, like it did with Voldemort, or it could work the same way it has for thousands of years. The only pattern is that it occurs correctly with vampires or those with vampire blood."
Harry glared at Hiei. "What's that have to do with me? And what makes you think that there's even such a curse?"
"You heard me, didn't you?"
"What?"
You can hear me.
Harry gasped, Hiei had spoken, but he didn't move his mouth at all. His voice had sounded far away, but at the same time, like was like he was inches from him.
"You're not human, are you?" He demanded. "What are you?"
Hiei scoffed. "My pedigree is none of your concern. The only thing you should be worried about is the Death of Five Twilights occurring soon and the fact that I will not let you live if you refuse to help."
Hagiri looked at the demon. "How soon is 'soon?'"
"Eight weeks."
"Well, that's not short notice." Yusuke grumbled. "Maybe if Itsuki wasn't making these stupid tunnels, the teachers wouldn't have to redo the barrier, then the school wouldn't have to worry about some stupid death curse thing. Know what? Maybe if we were never here we wouldn't have to worry about all this stupid"—
PWOOF!
"What the hell was that!" Yana said, jumping up.
Yusuke's eyes widened. "Oh, crap, that better not be…"
"Hello boys! Did you miss me?" A girl with blue hair in a long ponytail wearing a pink kimono entered the room, holding an oar.
"And life number three just gets worse."
"That's not very nice, Yusuke." She laughed. "I'm here to tell you about another little problem Koenma's having."
Yusuke snorted, and then raised his arm up, pointing his finger gun-style at her.
"Easy, easy! Haven't you ever heard the saying don't shoot the messenger?" She waved her hands in front of her.
"Never liked that saying."
She turned to look at who spoke. Obviously Japanese, of course. He had short black hair and bangs that were slightly in the way of his eyes, which were pink, similar to hers, but darker, more hateful.
"Who're you?" She asked, Kurama looked at her skeptically.
"Surely you've at least heard of him, or have him on record." He said, a little surprised.
"Nope!" She grinned, cat-like. "No clue!"
"Kaname Hagiri." He introduced himself. "Or Sniper, doesn't matter."
"Oh! You're one of the boys who was working for Sensui."
"Still am."
"Well then, I'm Botan! And he is…"
They turned to look where she was looking. Harry was just looking at them all in confusion.
"English." Hiei said bluntly. "He's English."
"Oh… I'm… Bo…tan."
"He said English, not stupid." Hagiri snorted.
"The English are human, humans are stupid. Therefore the English are stupid."
"Behave, Hiei." Kurama said in a gentle warning.
"Go get hit by an arrow." Hiei growled.
Harry ignored the bizarre comeback and looked at Botan unbelievably. "Where did you just come from?"
"From Spirit World, of course!" She smiled.
The others stared at her. "You nutcase! You just totally busted yourself out!" Yusuke yelled.
Kuwabara's eyes seemed wider than ever. "Man, now we're in big trouble! That's not good! Quick, Kurama, use one of those mind-erasing spells or plants or somethin'!"
Botan blinked. "What are you boys yelling about? He's involved on this little mission."
"What?"
"You're kidding."
"I'm completely serious. He needs to know." Botan said professionally, looking at the scar on Harry's forehead. "Yep, you're Harry Potter, correct?"
He nodded.
"Good! Well then, Harry, surely you're aware of the Death Eaters and the fact that they want you dead?"
Great, she had blue hair and took death lightly. "Doesn't everyone know that?"
"Well, some people, I won't say their names, though, are thick-headed and are extremely dense. Good to see you're not like that. You see, Japan's having a few issues with demons lately, and they just don't seem to be improving."
"But I thought demons didn't exist." Harry said, confused.
She turned to look at them. "I thought Koenma was joking when he told me about how naïve the wizarding world was."
"Yeah, they're kinda on the 'duuuh' side." Yana answered.
"Anyways, Harry," Botan continued. "Demons do in fact exist, and are really quite dangerous, usually." She shot a quick glance at Hiei, who glared at her. "And it turns out that the Death of Five Twilights only works well in half-breed demons."
"Half-breeds?" Harry asked. "You mean like part water demon and part thunder demon, right?"
"Not quite. What I mean are the demons that are half human."
"Who on earth would even do that?" He said, imagining a wedding of a random demon and a woman. "Everything I've heard about demons is nothing but that they're evil, psychotic, flesh-eating monsters!"
Yusuke's face twitched slightly. The kid was stupid. Yep, very stupid. He walked up to Harry and locked eyes with him. "Hey, let me explain our little problem so that you understand: Itsuki is controlling the tunnels, barely; the old guys here want to put up a barrier. The barrier kills Itsuki, Itsuki loses power over the tunnels since he dies, and demons break out of the tunnel and kill everyone, ending existence." He ran a hand through his hair then smoothed it back. "And demons can sense mystical energy, so they'd probably come here first, wipe you guys out first."
"And you're an exception? You don't think they'll come after you?" Harry demanded, getting angry. "You're not any better than anyone else, if these 'demons' or whatever really are going to come, then they'll come after you too, since you got possessed by Voldemort!" He snarled. "Professor Diablo is dead now! Thanks to those portals the Death Eaters have been traveling through! And you want me to stop the barrier! You have got to be the craziest"—
"I don't think you heard me earlier, Potter." Hiei said darkly. Harry looked at him; he was now holding a sword that had a faint red tint. "You either help, or I make sure there's no one to make a barrier."
Harry looked at Hiei's eyes. They seemed malevolent, calculating, and scariest of all, evil. He knew Hiei was serious; there was no questioning his intentions or the fact that he had no regard for anyone's life. Whoever died, died and whoever lived would die eventually.
"That's another year, Hiei." Botan said, making a mark on a page in a book.
He turned to look at her. "What. Was. That?"
"You know the rules. No threats or inflicting pain on anything outside of your own species." She closed the book. "That's another year working for Spirit World."
"I have no species." He said bluntly. "You expect me to tolerate such ignorance from these fools?"
"You'll have to, Hiei, since you're supposed to protect them."
Kuwabara scoffed. "You might as well throw him in prison, Botan. He's just gonna keep tryin' to kill whatever he can get his hands on."
"You don't think they haven't tried that already?" Kurama chuckled. "Hiei has broken out of Spirit World's care countless times."
Harry looked at Botan carefully. He had two choices: help them save their friend, or become Hiei's next victim.
"I'll help." He spoke, "If it'll keep people safe, I'll help."
"Great!" Botan cheered, smiling. "Now, Harry, you'll have to come with them back to Japan, okay?"
"Um, sure?"
She clapped her hands together. "Terrific! We'll leave Saturday!"
"Um, Botan?"
"Yes, Yana?"
"Tomorrow's Saturday."
"Well, then, I guess you boys will have to get ready now, then, won't you?"
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890
LL A.K.: Yep, that's chapter eleven.
Falcon: (crying)
LL A.K.: What's wrong?
Falcon: You killed Diablo! I hate you!
LL A.K.: Everyone hates me. Sorry, people! But I promise it'll be okay!
Falcon: Half of the readers must have left! And I can't blame them either, you killed Diablo!
LL A.K.: Sorry, but no responses today, people, I can't get to them right now.
Falcon: Just RR. (sobs)